What have we learned this week? Let’s see.
A lot of areas in the US are seeing little if any cases of Covid-19. A perfect example of this is comparing Upstate New York with Downstate New York (Albany, the NYC Metro Area, and much of Long Island.) The latter is a major epicenter of Covid-19 cases. The former is not even close. The same is true if you compare northern New England to southern New England. It’s true in a lot of other places across the US as well, particularly rural areas.
Some governors have gone overboard with restricting the activities of the citizens in their respective states. Some have waited for just such an opportunity to exercise dictatorial powers and have done so. (Governor Whitmer, this means you.) They have restricted activities and purchases that have absolutely nothing to do with slowing the spread of Covid-19. They’re doing it because they can. They have also given is a preview of what life will be like in Progressive America should that particular infection spread. (Yes, Progressivism is a disease that destroys, all in the name of ‘fairness’, a fairness that will never come to be. It’s failure has been proven again and again, much like its progenitor, Marxism.)
We have seen the models used to predict the spread of infection and deaths have been way off. We have seen how actions taken by some governors, mayors, and Congresscritters helped make the pandemic worse because Orange Man Bad.
We have seen more of the public rebelling against the over-the-top lockdowns and stay-at-home orders. Many think that social distancing, masks, and hand-washing would be sufficient going forward and re-opening America for business is important.
I guess we’ll see.
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Despite what the envirowackos and watermelon environmentalists believe, clean energy isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. Like most technological knownothings, they do not have an inkling what it takes to harvest clean energy, nor that clean energy is clean by no means.
Some proponents of the Green New Deal seem to believe that it will pave the way to a utopia of “green growth.” Once we trade dirty fossil fuels for clean energy, there’s no reason we can’t keep expanding the economy forever.One of the things that is supposed to make things like wind and solar viable is storage, something many proponents of clean energy have been faithfully ignoring. Some have been saying that all we need are more lithium-ion battery cells to make the storage batteries needed. The only problem is that there isn’t enough lithium available to do that and have enough available for lithium-ion batteries in items like smart phones, laptops, tablets, hybrid or electric cars.
This narrative may seem reasonable enough at first glance, but there are good reasons to think twice about it. One of them has to do with clean energy itself.
The phrase “clean energy” normally conjures up happy, innocent images of warm sunshine and fresh wind. But while sunshine and wind is obviously clean, the infrastructure we need to capture it is not. Far from it. The transition to renewables is going to require a dramatic increase in the extraction of metals and rare-earth minerals, with real ecological and social costs.
If they want clean energy, then molten salt reactors are the way to go. Using thorium as its main fuel, much of the existing expended fuel from existing nuclear plants can be ‘burned’, eliminating the problems associated with long-lived radio-isotopes, the big one being safe disposal.
If fusion is ever perfected, then clean energy becomes the rule rather than the exception.
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Apparently the L.A. Times has a real problem with those of us working from home wearing sweatpants while we do so.
So they’re pitching a fit over work-from-home fashion? I don’t know about you, but does it really make difference? I can see being dressed nicely, at least from the waist up should a video conference take place. But from the waist down? Nope. Sweats are good enough for me and millions of others.
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Claims about on oncoming “megadrought” that will affect the American Southwest that is being caused by global warming is “all wet” according to Anthony Watts.
The media this week are hyping a new study claiming global warming is causing a new megadrought in the American Southwest. In reality, the recent drought in the American Southwest is nothing new when you look at historical data.This “megadrought” is beginning to sound more like wishful thinking to sell the narrative of climate change.
--snip--
Is the USA in a “megadrought”? Looking at April 14th 2020 data from the United States Drought Monitor, it sure doesn’t seem so. While there are indications of some drought in the USA Southwest, there seem to be equally large areas that have no drought conditions at all. And, just one year ago, there were no indications of drought in the southwest USA whatsoever. This might be why Stahle only used data through 2018, because the “no drought” year of 2019 didn’t support the claims of “megadrought”. Cherry picking anyone?
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One thing I find I have to circle back to is the difference in the number of Covid-19 cases in different states. While watching the morning news our local TV station listed the total number of cases in New Hampshire and neighboring Massachusetts. The differences are staggering.
First, let’s compare the population of both states. New Hampshire’s population is about 1.3 million. The population of Massachusetts is about 6.9 million, a little over 5 times that of New Hampshire.
Second, let’s look at the area and population density of both states. New Hampshire has a land area of 8,969 square miles with a population density of 145 people/square mile. Massachusetts has a land area of 7,838 square miles with a population density of 880 people/square mile, or 6 times that of New Hampshire.
Third,let us now compare the number of Covid-19 cases in both states. New Hampshire has reported 1,342 cases with 38 deaths. Massachusetts has reported 36,372 cases with 1,560 deaths. With 5 times the population of New Hampshire, Massachusetts has 27 the times the number of cases and 41 times the number of fatalities.
While population density certainly has an effect on the number of cases, one would think it would be proportional, but that hasn’t proved to be so, at least at first glance. If we break down the number of cases by county, you’d find the less densely populated counties in Massachusetts (primarily those in Western Massachusetts) have far fewer cases per capita than the more thickly settled suburban and urban counties. That’s something you’ll find in every state.
The point of all of this?
Maybe it’s time to back off on the restrictions placed on the residents in the more rural counties across the nation because they really don’t live under the same conditions as those in the more heavily populated counties.
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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where tree pollen has been flying, more boats are appearing on the lake every day, and where people hope things will be opened up in time for summer.